Central Michigan University Athletics
Sunday, March 8
DeKalb, Ill.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
at
Mid-American Conference Championships
CMU junior Drew Hildebrandt gets a hearty hug from coach Tom Borrelli after winning the MAC title at 125 pounds on Sunday.
Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf
A Trio Of Champions, 2 Awards, A Very Strong Showing
3/8/2020 7:14:00 PM | Wrestling
CMU second at MAC Wrestling Championships; Simon earns outstanding wrestler award; Borrelli named league co-coach of the year
DeKALB, Ill. – Three champions, seven placers, six national qualifiers, two individual awards, and a solid runner-up team finish.
A good – maybe bordering-on-great -- weekend for the Central Michigan wrestling team and a good look and what might lie ahead.
Drew Hildebrandt (125 pounds), Dresden Simon (141) and Matt Stencel (285) won their respective weight classes in leading CMU to a runner-up finish in the Mid-American Conference Championships on Sunday at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois.
The Chippewas finished with 121 points. Missouri, which is ranked 23rd nationally, won its eighth-consecutive title with 142.
Hildebrandt, Simon, Stencel and fellow Chippewas Drew Marten (133), Logan Parks (157), and Landon Pelham (197) are headed to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for March 19-21 in Minneapolis.
Simon, a junior from Dansville, was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament, capping a dominant weekend with a 6-1 win over Evan Cheek of Cleveland State in the title match at 141 pounds
Simon's tournament run included an 18-3 technical fall victory over Missouri's Grant Leeth, a 2018 All-American, and a 14-5 major decision over Rider's Peter Lipari.
Simon is the sixth Chippewa to earn the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the MAC Championships and the first since Joe Roth in 2012. For the tournament, Simon outscored his four opponents by a combined 41-11.
"I think teching (Leeth) or getting majors, bonus points in general, really sends a message about how serious I am about winning," Simon said. "It's March and anything can happen."
Borrelli said he could see Simon turning the corner near the end of the 2018-19 season. He finished third last season in the MAC Championships at 149.
"The things that I have changed the most are just my mindset and my work ethic and the way I look at practice and the things I do in practice," Simon said. "I try to improve on things every day; always try to keep moving forward.
"I'm not going to lie, I think most of my strength just comes from good genetics. I work hard in the weight room, I lift as hard as I can and I have good training partners, but a lot of it's just genetics."
Simon, Hildebrandt and Stencel – all three of whom are juniors -- lived up to their billing as the No. 1 seed in their respective weight class.
Stencel won his third-consecutive MAC 285-pound title with an 11-0 major-decision victory over Jon Spaulding of Edinboro. Stencel is the ninth Chippewa to win three or more MAC titles and he is the first since current CMU assistant Ben Bennett won four in a row from 2010-13.
"Matt's been Matt all year long," Borrelli said. "He hasn't been pinning people as much as he did last year, but I think people are a little more cautious against him than they were in the past. His reputation is out there as a pinner."
Hildebrandt, who is returning to the nationals for the second-straight year, defeated Old Dominion's Kilian Cardinale, 2-0, in the final at 125.
With the match scoreless, Hildebrandt chose down to start the second period. He escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Hildebrandt rode Cardinale for the entire third period to notch a riding-time point.
"I don't know why people keep taking bottom on (Hildebrandt) but we're all for it," Borrelli said. "They keep taking bottom, we're going to keep riding him and maybe turning them.
Hildebrandt, who is ranked eighth nationally, improved to 31-3 and has won 12 consecutive matches; the fourth-ranked Stencel is 30-4 and has won 13 straight; Simon is 29-8 and ranked 12th.
Marten's run through the tournament to a third-place finish was particularly impressive considering that he lost his opening bout, 9-3, to No. 1-seed Tim Rooney of Kent State, who won the title.
Marten posted a pin, a 16-2 major and a 5-0 win to reach the third-place match against Buffalo's Derek Spann. Spann medically forfeited, giving the match – and the third-place finish -- to Marten.
Parks, the Chippewas' lone senior, is headed to the nationals for the second-consecutive year after his fifth-place finish at 157. He took down Ohio's Zac Carson just seconds into overtime for a 5-3 victory in the fifth-place match.
Pelham, a junior, is headed to the nationals for the first time after placing fourth at 197. He was taken down by Northern Illinois' Gage Braun as time expired in the third-place match. Braun won, 9-8. Pelham reached the third-place match with a pin in 38 seconds of Kent State's Colin McCracken.
CMU redshirt sophomore Jake Lowell, who stunned the tournament with 13-5 major-decision victory over top-seeded Jacob Oliver of Edinboro on Saturday, finished sixth.
He fell in the fifth-place match to Rider's Dean Sherry, 15-5. Still, it was a good showing for Lowell, who entered the tournament unseeded and with a 5-15 record. He opened with a 2-1 win over eighth-seeded Logan Stanley of Ohio.
Multiple Champions
In having three wrestlers win championships, it marked the first time since 2013 that CMU has had multiple champions. That year, Mike Ottinger won at 165 and Bennett won at 184.
The three champions are the most for CMU since 2012, when five Chippewas won titles.
Coaching Honors
In sharing the MAC Coach of the Year Award, Borrelli has now been so honored a record 13 times. In his 29th year at CMU, he is the dean of MAC wrestling coaches and among the sport's most-respected names.
He last won the award in 2012.
A good – maybe bordering-on-great -- weekend for the Central Michigan wrestling team and a good look and what might lie ahead.
Drew Hildebrandt (125 pounds), Dresden Simon (141) and Matt Stencel (285) won their respective weight classes in leading CMU to a runner-up finish in the Mid-American Conference Championships on Sunday at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois.
The Chippewas finished with 121 points. Missouri, which is ranked 23rd nationally, won its eighth-consecutive title with 142.
Hildebrandt, Simon, Stencel and fellow Chippewas Drew Marten (133), Logan Parks (157), and Landon Pelham (197) are headed to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for March 19-21 in Minneapolis.
Simon, a junior from Dansville, was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament, capping a dominant weekend with a 6-1 win over Evan Cheek of Cleveland State in the title match at 141 pounds
Simon's tournament run included an 18-3 technical fall victory over Missouri's Grant Leeth, a 2018 All-American, and a 14-5 major decision over Rider's Peter Lipari.
Simon is the sixth Chippewa to earn the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the MAC Championships and the first since Joe Roth in 2012. For the tournament, Simon outscored his four opponents by a combined 41-11.
"I think teching (Leeth) or getting majors, bonus points in general, really sends a message about how serious I am about winning," Simon said. "It's March and anything can happen."
Borrelli said he could see Simon turning the corner near the end of the 2018-19 season. He finished third last season in the MAC Championships at 149.
"The things that I have changed the most are just my mindset and my work ethic and the way I look at practice and the things I do in practice," Simon said. "I try to improve on things every day; always try to keep moving forward.
"I'm not going to lie, I think most of my strength just comes from good genetics. I work hard in the weight room, I lift as hard as I can and I have good training partners, but a lot of it's just genetics."
Simon, Hildebrandt and Stencel – all three of whom are juniors -- lived up to their billing as the No. 1 seed in their respective weight class.
Stencel won his third-consecutive MAC 285-pound title with an 11-0 major-decision victory over Jon Spaulding of Edinboro. Stencel is the ninth Chippewa to win three or more MAC titles and he is the first since current CMU assistant Ben Bennett won four in a row from 2010-13.
"Matt's been Matt all year long," Borrelli said. "He hasn't been pinning people as much as he did last year, but I think people are a little more cautious against him than they were in the past. His reputation is out there as a pinner."
Hildebrandt, who is returning to the nationals for the second-straight year, defeated Old Dominion's Kilian Cardinale, 2-0, in the final at 125.
With the match scoreless, Hildebrandt chose down to start the second period. He escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Hildebrandt rode Cardinale for the entire third period to notch a riding-time point.
"I don't know why people keep taking bottom on (Hildebrandt) but we're all for it," Borrelli said. "They keep taking bottom, we're going to keep riding him and maybe turning them.
Hildebrandt, who is ranked eighth nationally, improved to 31-3 and has won 12 consecutive matches; the fourth-ranked Stencel is 30-4 and has won 13 straight; Simon is 29-8 and ranked 12th.
Marten's run through the tournament to a third-place finish was particularly impressive considering that he lost his opening bout, 9-3, to No. 1-seed Tim Rooney of Kent State, who won the title.
Marten posted a pin, a 16-2 major and a 5-0 win to reach the third-place match against Buffalo's Derek Spann. Spann medically forfeited, giving the match – and the third-place finish -- to Marten.
Parks, the Chippewas' lone senior, is headed to the nationals for the second-consecutive year after his fifth-place finish at 157. He took down Ohio's Zac Carson just seconds into overtime for a 5-3 victory in the fifth-place match.
Pelham, a junior, is headed to the nationals for the first time after placing fourth at 197. He was taken down by Northern Illinois' Gage Braun as time expired in the third-place match. Braun won, 9-8. Pelham reached the third-place match with a pin in 38 seconds of Kent State's Colin McCracken.
CMU redshirt sophomore Jake Lowell, who stunned the tournament with 13-5 major-decision victory over top-seeded Jacob Oliver of Edinboro on Saturday, finished sixth.
He fell in the fifth-place match to Rider's Dean Sherry, 15-5. Still, it was a good showing for Lowell, who entered the tournament unseeded and with a 5-15 record. He opened with a 2-1 win over eighth-seeded Logan Stanley of Ohio.
Multiple Champions
In having three wrestlers win championships, it marked the first time since 2013 that CMU has had multiple champions. That year, Mike Ottinger won at 165 and Bennett won at 184.
The three champions are the most for CMU since 2012, when five Chippewas won titles.
Coaching Honors
In sharing the MAC Coach of the Year Award, Borrelli has now been so honored a record 13 times. In his 29th year at CMU, he is the dean of MAC wrestling coaches and among the sport's most-respected names.
He last won the award in 2012.
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